Hamilton loses his cool with McLaren after 'one of the drives of my life'

28 March 2010

Former F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton lost his cool with his McLaren-Mercedes team after a misguided tyre strategy ruined what he described as 'one of the drives of my life' in the Australian Grand Prix around Melbourne's Albert Park today

Truly, the 2010 Australian Grand Prix weekend will not be one that Lewis Hamilton remembers fondly when he eventually hangs up his F1 helmet, after a run-in with the police and poor qualifying performance were compounded by a critical strategic error on race day that left the former world champion lamenting a bad call from his McLaren-Mercedes team that had undone what he described as 'one of the drives of my life'.

From eleventh on the grid in Melbourne – scene of his maiden rostrum finish in the top flight on his grand prix debut three years ago, followed up by victory twelve months later – Hamilton made an excellent start and took advantage of some of the first corner chaos to end the opening lap eighth, despite suffering damage to the front wing endplate of his MP4-25 and a consequent loss of downforce from clipping the Ferrari of erstwhile team-mate Fernando Alonso in the first corner.

Far from serving to dim his pace, though, the 25-year-old proved to be extremely rapid throughout the race, and as he battled his way aggressively and energetically up the order he passed team-mate – and eventual winner – Jenson Button, opportunistically dived down the inside of Felipe Massa by following Mark Webber past the Brazilian, and then just one corner later got the Australian too.

Later still, Hamilton impressively went all the way around the outside of Mercedes Grand Prix rival Nico Rosberg and then wasted little time in latching onto the back of Robert Kubica in the Renault, but there his lightning progress would be arrested, as the Pole proved to be a tough nut to crack indeed.

After his team called him in for a new set of rubber, the eleven-time grand prix-winner went on to storm his way back into contention, dragging Webber along with him. With a handful of laps to go, the pair had caught the Kubica-Felipe Massa-Alonso scrap over the runner-up spot once again – but then as the Stevenage-born ace went to try and deprive Alonso of P4, disaster struck, as Webber left his braking too late and harpooned the McLaren, sending both cars into the gravel trap and leaving a distinctly unimpressed Hamilton to limp back on-track and take the chequered flag just sixth.

Somewhat preoccupied in the closing stages with the culprit responsible for having made the decision to pit him again mid-race – angrily asking on the radio “Whose call was it to bring me in?” as he diced with Alonso in front and Webber behind – it was a bad-tempered end to a bad weekend that saw Hamilton uncharacteristically lose his cool and that he will doubtless want to swiftly consign to the history books and move on from.

“I think I had probably one of the drives of my life,” he stated afterwards in a terse interview, adding when asked who made the call to pit mid-race 'I don't know – we'll find out'. “Unfortunately, due to the strategy I was put further back. All I know is that my team are a brilliant bunch of guys and they usually get it spot-on, but the strategy was not right. Everyone else in front of me did one stop, and for some reason I did two. I guess things can't always pan out right every time.

“It was disappointing to taken out by Mark Webber, but I hear he apologised for it after the race so I appreciate that [see separate story – click here]. I'm happy with the job I did – I honestly drove my heart out today, the car felt good and I think I deserved better than what I ended up with.”

“Could Jenson and I have had a one-two? Maybe, yes, but you can't say for sure. One thing I can say for sure, though, is that he drove a great race. Congratulations to him for an excellent first win for McLaren-Mercedes – it's a good feeling! As for me, I'll just keep fighting. It's the only way I know.”

Join
the conversation - Add your comment

Although the administrators and moderators of this website will attempt to keep all objectionable comments off these pages, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the poster, and neither Crash Media Group nor Crash.Net will be held responsible for the content of any message. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. If you find a message objectionable, please contact us and inform us of the problem or use the [report] function next to the offending post. Any message that does not conform with the policy of this service can be edited or removed with immediate effect.